


red heart emoji

by starkly



Series: you don't have to do this alone [29]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 19:23:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13530939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkly/pseuds/starkly
Summary: It's hard to maintain a long-distance relationship when you've got CEO, superhero, and high-ranking military duties to contend with in said relationship. Luckily, Pepper, Tony, and Rhodey manage to make it work.





	red heart emoji

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for NaNoWriMo 2017 and posted at [dailyironfamily](http://dailyironfamily.tumblr.com/post/168036957350/day-29-pining) on tumblr. This fic was proofread before being posted here but is otherwise unchanged.
> 
> Day twenty-nine: pining. Which was a mistake since like 50% of these fics involved pining so I kind of ran myself out of ideas early. So here’s just a fluffy little drabble, Pepper/Tony/Rhodey established, post-IM3.

The problem with being the face of a major corporation, Tony thinks, even when you’re not the CEO anymore, is that people still expect you to show up for stuff. Especially important stuff, like mergers with your biggest partner in Japan.

Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, except he’s spent a whole week across the globe while his number one honeybear has been stateside for the same amount of time after an extra long deployment doing who knows what (Tony knows what, he hacked, but he won’t admit it), and he needs to get home, ASAP.

“Should I be jealous?” Pepper says dryly, sitting across from him on the plane ride home. “I’ve been with you all week.”

“What? No, of course not,” he says, not looking up from his phone where he’s texting Rhodey an update about their departure.

Pepper leans over and snatches the phone, glancing over the screen. “Five hearts?”

“One in every color!” He grabs his phone back from her, cradling it against his chest.

“I miss him too, Tony, but I’m not texting him every five minutes. Give him some space to breathe.”

“Don’t give me that line, I’ve seen how you get when one of you can’t make your weekly Skype calls,” Tony says accusingly. “On the couch at one in the morning watching infomercials and eating ice cream out of the tub.”

“It’s how I de-stress!”

“ _Non-vegan ice cream_.”

They both fall silent, staring at each other, then burst out laughing.

“I see you eating the non-vegan stuff too, don’t lie,” Pepper mutters, rubbing at the corners of her eyes.

Tony groans, slumping down in his seat and looking at his phone again. “We are something else.”

“It’ll probably be too late to see him when we get in,” Pepper says, glancing at the time with a frown.

“Brunch tomorrow? I’ll text him.” Tony relays the message to Rhodey over the phone, then sets it down on the seat beside him. “There. I’ll behave the rest of the trip.”

The phone buzzes a few seconds later, and Tony snatches the phone back up, checking Rhodey’s response. Pepper just laughs and picks up her tablet, leaving Tony to continue his texting.

* * *

They don’t land back in New York until late, as expected, and it’s already 2 A.M. by the time they make it to Avengers Tower. When they get up to the penthouse, however, the lights are already on, and Tony looks around in confusion, wondering if someone managed to break in without alerting JARVIS.

JARVIS seems to be working fine, however, as he says, quietly, “Colonel Rhodes wished to surprise you, but he was unable to make it.”

Tony drags his suitcase over to the sitting area, Pepper close at his heels, and they find Rhodey asleep on one of their couches, clutching a pillow to his chest and snoring softly. Tony feels his whole body well up with uncontrollable fondness, and he grins at Pepper, setting his suitcase down and walking around the couch.

“Up and at ‘em, soldier, or I’ll have JARVIS play ‘Reveille’ for you.”

Rhodey stirs, slowly blinking up at Tony’s grinning face. “Tony? What time is it?”

“Time to get up, we’re back.”

“Go back to Japan,” he grumbles, rolling over, and sees Pepper peering down at him from behind the couch. “Hi, Pep.”

“I hear you tried to stay up for us and failed.”

“JARVIS is a tattletale.” Rhodey sighs and sits up, rubbing his face. “Sorry, I thought you’d be here sooner.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Pepper tells him, moving around the couch to sit down beside him. “We missed you.”

“Missed you too,” he says, leaning in to give her a soft kiss.

Tony flops down on the other side of the couch, groaning. Rhodey breaks off the kiss, looking at Tony over his shoulder. “What?” Tony says. “It’s been a long week.”

“He spent most of it pining away for you,” Pepper teases. “You’re lucky I’m here to run your company.”

“The trip went well, then?” Rhodey asks, looking at Pepper even as Tony tugs him over to his side of the couch.

“Tony didn’t text you about it?” she replies, grinning.

Tony distracts him with a kiss, and when he finally lets him go, Rhodey says, “He did, but I figured I’d get your version of the story.”

She laughs, scooting closer so she can drape an arm around Rhodey’s shoulders. “It went well.”

“Did you miss us?” Tony asks, clasping Rhodey’s hand between both of his.

“Of course not,” Rhodey says, rolling his eyes. “I wish you were gone another week.”

“Says the man wearing my t-shirt.”

“I ran out of clean shirts.”

“Dears,” Pepper interrupts before they can really get into it, “maybe we should go to bed so Jim can get some sleep? Since he spent all week pining after us and must be very tired.”

Tony laughs at Rhodey’s deep sigh, but he gets up off the couch, Rhodey’s hand still held between his. “Come on, I’ll even let you have the middle tonight.”

“How generous,” Rhodey says dryly, but he’s smiling, and Pepper takes his other hand and gives him a kiss on the cheek, so he clearly has nothing to complain about. He walks with them to the bedroom, hands still in theirs, and adds, “It’s good to have you back.”

“We’ll coordinate better next time,” Tony promises. For now, they’ll just have to take advantage of the short time they do have.


End file.
